After a scoreless first leg that was defined by Luis Suarez not playing very well, the Uruguayan enjoyed a vital role in Barcelona’s 5-1 second-leg victory over Lyon at the Camp Nou on Wednesday. However, the man of the match was Lionel Messi, who scored two goals and added two assists to ease his side into the Champions League quarterfinals.
Barcelona made heavy work of 3-1 victory over 19th-place Rayo Vallecano at the Camp Nou on Saturday to maintain a seven-point lead at the top of LaLiga. Raúl de Tomás opened the scoring for the visitors in the 24th minute, but Barca found the equalizer 14 minutes later through Gerard Pique. In the second half, a Lionel Messi penalty and a Luis Suarez goal would secure three points ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League second leg against Lyon (0-0 on aggregate).
Lionel Messi turned one billion seconds old on Saturday. The Argentine maestro sometimes feels like he’s one billion years old with his sage, sanguine, muted reactions on the pitch.
Despite being the target of every opponent’s defensive tactics, regularly subjected to physical play, Messi rarely loses his cool. His only red card in his career came in his first ever appearance with Argentina.
Barcelona’s quest for a fifth straight Copa del Rey title will be decided on May 25 at the Estadio Benito Villamarín after Wednesday’s 3-0 semifinal second leg victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. The aggregate score remained 1-1 going into the second half, but a Luis Suarez brace and Raphael Varane own goal in the space of 23 minutes granted Barcelona passage to the final at the expense of its El Clásico rival.
Neymar is currently in Brazil as he continues to recover from a broken bone in his right foot, but he’s taken the time to record a segment with Esporte Espetacular which will air on March 3.
In a preview before the full thing, Globo Esporte has published a clip in which Neymar is brought to tears while talking about the influence that Lionel Messi had during his four-year stay at Barcelona.
Lionel Messi registered his 50th professional hat trick Saturday, which led to another Twitter frenzy.
Messi now trails just Cristiano Ronaldo with regards to career hat tricks — Ronaldo has 51 three-score outings. The two are compared and argued over more than we’d like to admit. However, the GOAT discussion has officially ended.
Both players have received praise from about everyone in the world, but Messi has officially one-upped his rival with this unmatchable praise:
Lionel Messi has now scored 650 goals in his legendary career.
By now, you know the prototypical Messi goal. Cutting in from the right side, the Argentine curls a perfectly placed shot with his left foot into the far corner. Occasionally he’ll score on a deft chip or smash a low shot before a goalie can react and lately he’s been unstoppable on free kicks.
Barcelona and Lyon played to a 0-0 draw at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on Tuesday in the first leg of a Champions League Round of 16 encounter, giving a slight edge to the Blaugrana ahead of the return leg at the Camp Nou on Mar. 13.
The first half was a tubthumping affair with Lyon carving out three good opportunities, only to be denied twice by Marc-André ter Stegen while sending another effort blazing over.
Last we heard from Barcelona’s Arda Turan in January, he was facing 12 years in prison for sexual harassment, assault, shooting a firearm in public and carrying a weapon without a license all stemming from an incident last year.
This came on the heels of a 16-match ban last May for shoving a referee while on loan with İstanbul Başakşehir.